BROOKLYN, N.Y.— The LIU Brooklyn volleyball team earned a three-set sweep (25-17, 25-11, 25-12) over Saint Francis U on Senior Night. The Blackbirds improve to 13-6 overall and 10-0 in the Northeast Conference with the victory.
LIU honored its two graduating seniors, Viktoria Fink and Alexandra Lilliquist prior to the game. Both seniors would pace the charge for the Blackbirds with each senior posting double-digit kills as Lilliquist recorded a game-high 13 kills and Fink added 12. Lilliquist also recorded her first double-double of the season with 12 digs in addition to two service aces. Sophomore Piper Matsumoto also tallied a double-double with 21 assists and 10 digs. Junior libero Natalia Rivera picked up a game-high 25 digs and classmate Katharina Krepper added four blocks for the Blackbirds.
LIU started out the match with a 9-3 opening start on a few Saint Francis errors to go along with three kills from Fink. The Red Flash would claw back to within four points at 12-8 but the Blackbirds would continue to pull ahead. A big 7-2 run by LIU put the team ahead 20-11, led by three kills from sophomore Jovana Stekovic. The Blackbirds closed out the set taking advantage of several SFU errors to take the 25-17 opening set win.
The Blackbirds pulled ahead to start the second set with a 8-2 early advantage on kills across the board in addition to big blocks from Krepper, Fink and Stekovic. Saint Francis would push the lead to three at 8-5 shortly after. LIU would turn around with an 11-3 stretch on a pair of kills from Lilliquist and a pair of service aces from Matsumoto and Fink to take an 11 point lead at 20-9. A closing four point run that was sealed with a service ace from Lilliquist gave the Blackbirds the 25-11 second set win.
The offense continued to click for LIU to start the third set, climbing to an early 11-3 advantage on a flurry of Red Flash errors. The Blackbirds continued to hold the lead over Saint Francis for the remainder of the set, ending with an 8-3 run for the 25-12 set win. LIU recorded a game-high 15 kills and hit .400 in the final set to cap the straight set win.
UP NEXT
The Blackbirds conclude the weekend against Robert Morris on tomorrow a 4:00 p.m. first serve.
LIU Brooklyn volleyball graduating class of 2019